My mates Rangerover (2015 55k miles 3.0 litre diesel) shat itself. Cost him £6k for a reconditioned exchange engine. 3 weeks later his girlfriend’s did exactly the same thing He’s since gone German. Mercedes.
I knew someone a few years ago who had a disco shit itself, he seemed to think they did him a good deal only charging multiple thousands of pounds for a replacement engine
I’ve mentioned here before that my Mrs has a Model 3 performance on our business. It was one of the first to come into the country so that’s nearly 18 months and over 16,000 miles of ownership experience. If you have a go in one you will be astonished, everyone is. It is phenomenally quick off the mark. 0-60 in less than 2 seconds. Instant 100% torque that slams you into the seat. If you see a gap and want it, it is yours. No contest. Traffic light starts are something else. You don’t need to worry at all about what lane you are in ... you can get ahead and across multiple lanes to where you want to be before any other car has barely moved! Handling is very good. It is a heavy car but that helps it feel planted. The regenerative breaking takes some getting used to - take your foot off the accelerator and the car slows rapidly - rather like big-twin engine breaking. So far as charging goes, if you can park it at your house you charge it overnight while you sleep at a cost that works out about 7p per mile on the best tariffs. You normally charge to 80% to maximise battery care and that gives a comfortable range of 180 miles or so on the Performance model ... more on the Long Range. If you need a bit more for a longer journey then you charge to 100%. If you are doing an even longer journey then you stop to charge en-route. One of the big advantages Tesla has over its competition is its proprietary Supercharger network. They have hundreds of the things across the country at service stations, hotels etc and they enable you to top-up sufficiently within 30 mins or so while you have a pee and a coffee. If you are going somewhere really out of the way then there are literally thousands of non-Tesla chargers that you can use if you need to - though they charge more slowly (you might be looking at an hour or so) and cost a little more. The wife’s weekday drive is normally a 70 mile round trip so she normally charges at home and saves both time and a lot of money every week by not having to visit fuel stations! The odd longer trip with charging en-route is easy to plan with a variety of apps and has never proven problematic. If your travel pattern is similar to MrsH’s and you can charge at home then a Tesla is a no-brainer I reckon ... especially if you are looking for a company car (great tax breaks) or leasing (great residuals). The other big thing about the Tesla is its architecture. It really is nothing like a traditional car in this respect. No engine means no traditional servicing which saves you time and money. The remote app and in-car software have great features and are totally integrated with the rest of the car, it’s motors and controls which means that performance updates are much quicker and easier for Tesla to develop and ship compared to their competition. This is what the traditional auto manufacturers are really worried about (the tech capabilities and software-first car architecture of Tesla and other emerging companies in the US and China) ... my business advises several of them on this and they are well behind the curve. I expect to see a few of them go the same way as Kodak and Nokia. Of course there are some bad things about Teslas (though for my Mrs none of them are anywhere near bad enough to outweigh the advantages) .... - Build quality and finish is typically American - adequate but not the best. - The driving features like lane assist and intelligent cruise currently don’t work as well as she’d like (it almost seems as if they were designed for US driving conditions). Over-the-air updates are being made all the time though so this will doubtless improve sooner or later. - We hear from other owners that customer service can be patchy if you do have a fault. We’ve not had any issues ourselves but some people have. It’s hard to judge how big the problem is (people always spout the bad new on forums, not the good) but it seems clear from the reviews that Tesla are struggling to maintain quality of service with the rapid increase in sales they are experiencing. - For me ... driver engagement ... the Tesla handles well but not quite as well as the traditional European ‘drivers cars’ out there. I recently bought myself a 911 and it is more involving than the Tesla. It is the noise, handling, build quality and three pedals that make it for me (though the Mrs actually prefers an auto these days) and even though it isn’t as quick as the Tesla it feels faster and would be quicker point to point on a fun twisty road I reckon. Bottom line ... if you are after a practical, fun, four door car in this price bracket and you can charge it at home then you should definitely look at Teslas. In fact if you are at all interested I’d recommend speaking to the owners via the Tesla forums. A bit like Ducati owners many of them are real enthusiasts who understand the pros and cons of their cars and are more than willing to help you out with advice or even take you for a drive.
my partners cousin bought a brand new Range Rover this year he is in the car game part owning just Citroen and just Peugeot in Harrogate, crosshills, Preston etc anyway not one not two but 3 engines later he kindly told them to take it back and keep it he now has some big Japanese 4x4 ...he had an amazing looking Mercedes 4x4 before the Range Rover I see an unhealthy amount of Range Rovers on the hard shoulder with the hazards on seriously, it’s a shame as I think a nice Range Rover looks lovely Bought the monkey off a guy in wales who works in warranty claims for Range Rover he told me there was a batch of dodgy engines due to camshaft or crank issue I don’t remember exactly as I was too busy stroking the monkey (does that sound wrong)
They drive beautifully. I borrowed one to go from Doncaster to Southampton and back. No aches, pains or stretches required. Super comfortable and easy to cover huge, stress free miles. Just stay away from the turbo diesel models. I think the gas guzzling big petrol models are ok. Might be wrong though.....
